The present invention relates to a process and system for producing an alternative cover for landfills, and more particularly, is directed to an alternative daily cover for landfills using recycled materials which meets the Department of Environmental Protection requirements for a daily cover.
State and federal environmental regulations generally require operators of landfills to periodically cover exposed solid waste, typically at the end of each working day or at the end of every 24 hours. The daily cover is used to prevent vectors, odors, blowing, litter and other nuisances from the landfill and is also required to prevent fires and to allow loaded vehicles to successfully maneuver on landfill after the cover material has been placed. Generally, the layer of cover material is required to be a minimum of 6 inches thick and a supply of the cover must be maintained on site. The cover must also be capable of sustaining vegetation in some states, at least temporarily, prior to receiving a final cover in order to protect against corrosion and sedimentation. The daily cover requirements vary somewhat from state to state, but the material used is generally known in the industry as "daily cover", or "periodic cover" when the interval is more than one day (for example two or three days). As used herein "daily cover" is intended to include both daily and periodic cover for landfills such as municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills, rubble landfills, land clearing debris landfills, and industrial waste landfills.
Generally, each day's solid waste, garbage or other debris which has been placed in the landfill is covered at the end of the day. Further layers of solid waste, garbage and debris are then spread directly on top of the daily cover from the previous day. Typically, landfills use soil as a daily cover, and the soil must be purchased from an outside source and delivered to the landfill site. Due to the high rate of soil consumption as daily cover, this can be a substantial cost item. Moreover, the soil used as a daily cover in the landfill uses a significant amount of the available landfill space which might otherwise be used for receiving solid waste garbage and debris. In view of the fact that landfill capacity is being rapidly exhausted, it would be desirable to reduce the consumption rate of the available landfill volume. It would also be desirable to use recycled material which would otherwise be deposited in landfills as a component of an alternate daily cover material which meets all of the requirements for a daily cover, and can be provided at reduced cost due to the use of recycled materials. This would consume less overall landfill space since the recycled materials would form part of the daily cover as opposed to part of the solid waste or debris which was previously required to be covered.
Landfill operators are also required to provide intermediate cover for areas which will be temporarily dormant, generally for more than 3 or 4 days, but which will eventually be covered with additional solid waste, garbage or other debris. This intermediate cover has similar requirements to daily cover, but is generally required to have a smaller maximum particle size to prevent vectors, odors, litter and other nuisances from the landfill over a longer period of time. It would also be desirable to provide an alternate intermediate cover using recycled materials.